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@DebateArt.com
Sure
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Kasimir: I know little about Vallaki. They associate us with the Vistani and we are not allowed within the town borders. As far as the missing girl, all available dusk elves, save myself and the house guards, are out looking for her. If she was anywhere in the vicinity, she would have been found out my now.
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@DebateArt.com
I agree from a strict mathematical perspective. But I wonder if a debate that is tied because it scored an equal number of votes is different - and should be treated differently - than a debate that is tied because it scored no votes. Should such debates be considered null and void, as if they didn't happen?
Personally I think full forfeit debates should be null and void too since no debate really happened.
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Kasimir: As the path goes, about 20 miles. But the mountains are host to horrible beasts. Giant birds. Not to mention the fact that the Amber Temple is heavily guarded and home to Dark Powers.
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Kasimir leans back in his chair and pauses in thought.
Kasimir: The degree to which those things align with my thoughts as of late is... eerie to say the least. The "amber doors" can only be a reference to the Amber Temple, located high up the slopes of Mount Ghakis along the southern border of the valley. I believe it is there that Strahd became the Devil he is, and I believe it is there he can be unmade.
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The elf turns away from the fire and stands up to greet Grahf.
I apologize, I was distracted by the flames. I am Kasimir, please, have a seat. I have heard of this Madame Eva. A seer of sorts, is she?
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The guards look at each other, then part, allowing Grahf to enter. The house is on the small side, with a small vestibule curtained off from a single living space with a table, chair, and hearth. Wooden statuettes of elven deities stand in cubbyholes along one wall. A tapestry of a forest hangs on the opposite wall.
In the chair by the hearth is another figure clad in a grey cloak. Despite the warmth of the fire, he wears the hood up over his head.
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A grim, gray-cloaked figure stands in front of the door. As Grahf approaches the house, he silently directs him to a specific house on the east side of the hill. Standing quietly in front of this house, bathed in the warm light of its lanterns, are three sullen, gray-cloaked figures, their angular features and black, flowing hair half-hidden under their cowls.
One of them steps forward. State your business.
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@spacetime
You mean this one?
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@thett3
lahz ay fare
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As Snerp makes his way back to the tavern, he arrives at the same time as Szoldar and Yevgeni.
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Man: If you are interested in helping, I can arrange a meeting with my employer and we can discuss the details in a more discrete location.
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Man: I am not at liberty to reveal that information myself. But I'm sure a gnome as clever as yourself can puzzle it out sooner or later.
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@Buddamoose
(Cutting words doesn't work on saving throws)
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@kindertina
(You and Earth have not stated who you were going with. Or I missed it if you did)
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@Mopac
You still haven't answered the context in which CNN was discussing the term
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The man's face betrays no emotion: Is this the "calm minds" spell you were talking about? I can feel the madness escaping already! /s
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@triangle.128k
Argument? I thought this was some fine character acting.
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@Greyparrot
But Trump does. Do you think he's somehow inoculated from being a white nationalist simply because he had the baseline level of political savviness to omit the word "white" from "white nationalist?"
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@kindertina
(Right, we have two main groups. Roberts went to take the horses to the Vistani. Snerp is following around some random guy. Eikka is chilling back at the inn. Where is Luraxt and what is he doing?)
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Man: Yes, as I thought, you have no plan. The wheels will turn with or without you. So if you want to place hope in made up magic, go ahead.
[Snerp Insight Check: d20 (20) + 2 = 22]
Snerp senses that the man is choosing his words very careful as to remain as truthful as possible without belying some ulterior motive. When Snerp revealed that he opposed Strahd, the tone and expression the man conveyed was one of disapproval. In the end, his words have the ring of being technically true, but grant a hint of maliciousness. He does believe the Baron is mad and needs to be replaced, but it's clear that the well being of the town is not his primary goal.
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@DBlaze
I just have it on good authority that only things that appear in the dictionary exist and, if they do, they can only exist in the exact manner described. So, you don't exist. Sorry.
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@Greyparrot
Grey:
If my point is that you can take any complex scenario, extract specific and cherry picked elements, and show that they, devoid of all previous context, are fine, and that's exactly what you do. Do you think you're rebutting me or proving my point?
I will explicitly concede that you can find cherry picked elements, strip away all context and present them as benign or at the the very least neutral. But do you think that is really a constructive way to respond to a statement which talks about things "adding up"?
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@DBlaze
I couldn't find "DBlaze" in the dictionary. I guess that means you don't exist. Sorry.
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Man stops and turns to face Snerp: Tell me about these alternatives that you have prepared and are ready to execute.
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@Greyparrot
I'm not really concerned about that particular person's influence. But things add up:
1. Trump refuses to really distance himself from the white nationalists who have latched onto him.
2. He will go out of his way to not malign them.
3. He will basically go up to the line of touting the same messages as them without crossing into the territory of explicit white nationalism.
If I am a white nationalist, but I'm savvy enough to not use the word "white" when I say "nationalist" does that mean I'm magically not a white nationalist anymore?
Again it's the same issue with the blackface. Yes, you can take a scalpel and carve out and cherry pick specific words and specific acts that, evaluated independently absent context and history and say: "this isn't racist" but that is not an accurate or honest representation of reality, unless you're a toddler reading from the dictionary.
This stuff has context. It has history. It is stupid and blind to ignore that.
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@Mopac
You didn't answer the question. What was the context of the discussion CNN was having?
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Man: You misunderstand me. I don't intend to do any such thing. I'm a nobody. My employer, however, has a vested interested in this town's well being. But you demonstrate astuteness. The Baron is going mad and the town cannot abide a power vacuum. But there need not be one. There are other lines of nobility in this town that can lay claim to its rulership.
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Man: Oh, you know, the terrible, terrible crime of malicious unhappiness. Can't have anyone raining on the Baron's parade, now can we? Now, if you insist on keeping such a pristine opinion of the Baron, you can take solace in the fact that he uses that demonic monstrosity over there to do his dirty work.
But, then again, maybe this is normal where you come from.
He shrugs and begins to walk off.
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(He's indicating the men, women, and children in stocks wearing donkey heads)
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The man sidles back up to Snerp as he attempts to "hide." Continuing to look around casually, as not to give away Snerp's position, he speaks softly.
Man: So, does is it look like these people here are sleeping at night?
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@kindertina
(Where? Who? When? What is Luraxt doing to warrant a perception check?)
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@Logical-Master
I would consider the scenario racist, but I would not consider you a racist. Instead, I would consider you a coward.
Hey, fair enough. And I like and agree with the distinction.
The point I'm trying to make (albeit it perhaps clumsily) is you can have this general scenario that is racist that nevertheless contains aspects that are not racist. You can carve out and examine just those aspects and groan about how it's not racist but I don't think that is an honest analysis of the situation as a whole.
If the above scenario happened in the news, focusing just on me wouldn't be an accurate representation.
Likewise, to tie this back to the OP, blackface has a long and sullied history in this country and looking at just some modern aspect as if it exists in a vacuum and declaring it to be "not racist" isn't honest. Even if those specific individuals aren't acting with racist motivations, this humiliating practice has been passed down from racist hands.
So I'd call the entire scenario racist, but I would not consider (necessarily) these individual racists. Instead, I would consider them stupid fucking idiots.
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@Greyparrot
The essence is we have the prime motivation as being racist and the killing of this person is unjustified. However, through clever manipulation, the racist person has tricked another person without racist motivations into carrying out this killing. From the non-racist's perspective, the logic and argumentation presented is convincing and they have no reason to doubt the police officer.
Yet it's all a lie and a deceit and merely an excuse to rid the planet of a black person.
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@Greyparrot
To make it more palatable, let's say the officer has convinced me that this person, objectively, needs to die and I need to do it. The officer's motivations are racist, but he is clever enough to convince me that the person needs to die without invoking racism such that my motives, though influenced by the officer, don't have an element of racism.
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@Greyparrot
Right, but I'm asking to look at the scenario as a whole. Not expertly and precisely carving out just a single element of the scenario and examining only that aspect of the scenario in a complete vacuum.
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@Greyparrot
No. I'm not a robot. How does that change the outcome of the scenario, though?
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If a racist cop wants me to shoot a black person because that person is black. Then hands me the gun and I shoot him. But I, personally, bear no ill will toward that black person and am not racist myself, would you consider this scenario, taken as a whole, to be racist?
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@Buddamoose
@Earth
@kindertina
(What's Snerp doing in the town square? What is everyone else doing?)
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@Buddamoose
(He meant for you to meet him at the festival)
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Alexei (who appears to be a teenager): Arrabelle is seven. I got bored of watching her and went to play cards with some of the adults. Someone would have to be pretty desperate to kidnap the daughter of a Vistani leader. She probably got lost and... he looks nervously at Luvash ...and well the woods are dangerous for anyone. No other kids have disappeared.
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I don't see how nationalism is intrinsically racist, but CNN was on at my work all day yesterday repeating over and over about dog whistling and equating nationalism with racism and hating Jews.
What was the context of the discussion? The general philosophy of "nationalism" or the increase of white nationalism that has begun to increase in popularity and significance over the past couple of years?
I just don't see it.
Isn't "one nation under God indivisble with liberty and justice for all" in the pledge of allegiance they urge kids to repeat like a mantra in school?
For the great majority of its lifespan, the United States has not been about "liberty and justice for all." And what does that have to do with nationalism?
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Luvash: She disappeared a little over a day ago. Just about everyone was drunk on a bender, so no one remembers exactly where or exactly when she disappeared. We have half the camp and as many dusk elves that can be spared looking out for her. If you wish to question Alexei, you can do so here and now.
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Congratulations, you just undermined your own argument.Actually, we wouldn't even need guns.
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@triangle.128k
Why does this thing, which potentially grants other some small level of satisfaction, and doesn't affect you in any possible way, let alone harmfully, bother you so much?
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